Why go mudlarking?

Mudlarking is my preferred type of treasure hunting but the organising of a five hour trip down to London to coincide with low tide times at a decent time compared with leaving home and being out in the field within minutes makes metal detecting much easier.

I enjoy mudlarking on the River Thames for the history. You have the river just behind you and when you look up you can see all the famous landmarks. The more you do it the more of a picture you start to build up in your head of what it would have looked like on the river during medieval times. Yes it can be very smelly, cold, wet and sometimes dangerous if you don't keep an eye on the tide and your escape route but it's also great fun. Just like metal detecting your finds success rate can be up and down from hunt to hunt. The river could be extra muddy so most of the finds are covered in mud or the tide doesn't go out as much as it should.

As the River Thames is tidal with two tides a day it acts as a plough and turns over the foreshore so there can finds there one but gone the next and you can go back to the same location two days in succession and have a much different hunt.